1964 Wilkes 400

1964 Wilkes 400
Race details[1]
Race 58 of 62 in the 1964 NASCAR Grand National Series season

North Wilkesboro Speedway
Date October 11, 1964 (1964-October-11)
Official name Wilkes 400
Location North Wilkesboro Speedway, North Wilkesboro, North Carolina
Course Permanent racing facility
0.625 mi (1.005 km)
Distance 400 laps, 250 mi (402 km)
Weather Cold with temperatures approaching 60.1 °F (15.6 °C); wind speeds up to 8.9 miles per hour (14.3 km/h)
Average speed 91.398 miles per hour (147.091 km/h)
Attendance 12,000[2]
Pole position
Driver Banjo Matthews
Most laps led
Driver Junior Johnson Banjo Matthews
Laps 201
Winner
No. 21 Marvin Panch Wood Brothers
Television in the United States
Network untelevised
Announcers none

The 1964 Wilkes 400 was a NASCAR Grand National Series (now Sprint Cup Series) event that was held on October 11, 1964, at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina.

Summary

This race took two hours and forty-four minutes to successfully complete with stock cars reaching speeds of 91.398 miles per hour (147.091 km/h).[2] Marvin Panch managed to defeat Fred Lorenzen by a time of 5.8 seconds; Fred Lorenzen was leading until he had to pit for gas 25 laps from the end of the race and Marvin Panch took the lead for good.[2] Two cautions were given for 28 laps in front of twelve thousand live spectators.[2] Junior Johnson qualified for the pole position for this race with a solo speed of 100.761 miles per hour (162.159 km/h).[2] Buddy Arrington and Doug Cooper failed to make any prize winnings for their respective 31st and 32nd-place finishes.[2] They crashed into each other at lap 2 of the 400-lap race.[2]

Mark Hurley would retire from the NASCAR Grand National Series after the conclusion of this event; taking his 1963 Ford Galaxie to its final 400 miles of racing action. The winner would walk away with a grand total of $3,225 in winnings ($24,647.72 when adjusted for inflation) while the bottom two finishers walked away with nothing.[3]

The transition to purposely-built racers began in the early 1960s and occurred gradually over that decade. Changes made to the sport by the late 1960s brought an end to the "strictly stock" vehicles of the 1950s; most of the cars were trailered to events or hauled in by trucks.

Top twenty finishers

  1. Marvin Panch (No. 21)
  2. Fred Lorenzen (No. 28)
  3. Darel Dieringer (No. 16)
  4. Billy Wade (No. 1)
  5. Buck Baker (No. 3)
  6. Cale Yarborough (No. 00)
  7. Curtis Crider (No. 02)
  8. Larry Thomas (No. 19)
  9. Neil Castles (No. 88)
  10. Bobby Johns (No. 7)
  11. Jack Anderson (No. 32)
  12. Roy Tyner (No. 9)
  13. Junior Johnson (No. 27)
  14. Wendell Scott (No. 34)
  15. Doug Yates (No. 72)
  16. Pete Stewart (No. 53)
  17. David Pearson (No. 6)
  18. Earl Balmer (No. 5)
  19. Richard Petty (No. 43)
  20. J.T. Putney (No. 46)

Timeline

References

  1. "1964 Wilkes 400 weather information". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 2010-09-07.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "1964 Wilkes 400 information". Racing Reference. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
  3. "1964 Wilkes 400 winnings information". Driver Averages. Retrieved 2014-04-20.
Preceded by
1964 untitled race at Savannah Speedway
NASCAR Grand National Series Season
1964
Succeeded by
1964 National 400
Preceded by
1963
Wilkes 400 races
1964
Succeeded by
1965


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